Thanks to an assist from their biggest rivals, the Oregon club baseball team is headed to the regional playoffs.
After finishing the regular season with a victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday, the Ducks needed the Western Washington Vikings to beat Central Oregon on Sunday to earn the second seed in the Northern Pacific Regional Playoffs.
With a 7-3 victory, Western Washington did just that. As a result, a happy bunch of Ducks will embark for La Grande, Ore., later this week to take on Weber State in the first round of the regional playoffs.
Still, Oregon wouldn’t have been in a position to accept the Vikings’ help if it wasn’t for a dramatic comeback victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday.
Despite a strong eight-inning, two-run outing from starting pitcher Evan Coller, Oregon found itself down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, before the Duck offense finally hit its stride.
Corey Johnson got on base with a walk and then was advanced to third on a double by Cooper Mandelblatt. Then with two outs and a two-strike count, Travis Reed came through with an RBI double, cutting the Eastern lead to 2-1.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth inning when Mandelblatt again doubled, bringing Reed to the plate.
Just like he had a few innings earlier, Reed again came through with another double, this one scoring Mandelblatt to tie the score at two apiece.
Reed’s second double of the game was just the latest in a recent outburst the freshman outfielder has produced.
“He’s definitely stepped it up lately,” Duck coach Chad Franke said of Reed. “He’s come up with clutch hits.”
After Reed’s double, second baseman Jacob Schumacher came through with a go-ahead RBI single to give Oregon its first lead of the game before the sixth inning finally ended.
Oregon then added an additional run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Pat Canepa base hit before reliever Chase Pennington entered the game in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.
“We knew we were going to get some runs on the board later and we stuck with it,” senior Cam Gaulke said.
The 4-2 victory was Oregon’s second straight to close out the regular season, following a 3-2 win last Sunday over Western Washington. Had the Ducks dropped either contest, they would be staying home instead playing in the postseason.
“It’s our team’s ability to be able to shut the door on everything else and pull it together for the games we need” that allowed the Ducks to win two straight games with their backs up against the wall, according to Franke.
If the Ducks are able to defeat Weber State in the opener of the double elimination tournament, they will play the winner of Utah State/Western Oregon in the first game of the
winners bracket.
“We need to take advantage of every base we can get,” Franke said. “Against those better teams you have to take advantage of all that stuff … if we get a single we have to bunt them over, steal a base when we can, and do the little things right.”
Although the Ducks will likely be viewed as an underdog heading into tournament play because of their average 7-5 regular season record, they do have the invaluable asset of experience on their side.
The fourth-year Oregon seniors have been to the regional tournament four times, and they will be determined to get back to the College World Series in Fort Myers, Fla., after a one-year hiatus.
“It will help a lot,” Franke said of the experience factor. “Especially being that this is (our seniors’) last time going to regionals with that sour taste in our mouths (from losing last year), we want this really bad.”
That veteran savvy may allow the Ducks to stay calm as they prepare to face Weber State and their likely starter, ace Kayleb Kester.
“(We need to know) that we’re a good hitting team and not get our heads out of the game just because the kid has some good stats,” Franke said.
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